SC:Eye Witness Account of Sumter Turn In (buyback) with Private Buyers

[Dean Weingarten]

A few guns turned in at a Phoenix gun Turn in, May, 2013

Several private buyers competed with the police for a small number of turn ins at the Sumter gun turn in event in South Carolina last Saturday. The events were held at two locations, which diluted the already meager collection. A total of 35 items were turned in. Armaborealis from palmettoshootersforum.com gives us this detailed account:

DreamerOfDreams and I headed down to the Alice drive location. We showed up around 1030-1100 ish and set up across the street with some folding chairs and signs. We were pretty far from the location and only able to really make eye contact with folks turning into one of two entrances. I showed up with my C&R FFL and bound book -- I understand nothing needed for private sales but figured it wouldn't hurt if we got hassled or if a "mom demanding action" started squealing about BACKGROUND CHECKS.

No takers on our cash offers. We did run into a few pro-gun folks, some in cars just shouting support and some who parked to come and talk. I'd say about 80% of the "customers" were old white folks in nice cars, so I don't think the gang banger demographic was showing up.

No hassles from the PD. At one point, two cruisers pulled into the gas station 50 yards down the way and hung out for awhile, and the cops at the turn-in site gave us a funny look for a bit. I suppose one of the "pro gun" folks could have been an undercover but I wouldn't bet on it.

One of the pro-gun folks was a gunsmith & FFL. He apparently showed up right when the buyback opened and turned in a half dozen or so complete POS parts guns. The cops thus ran out of gift cards way early. We packed it in around 1230, and the cops were wrapping it up too.

We checked out the cop's stack of guns collected as of around 1230 and it was unimpressive. There was on Mosin-Nagant M44, a decent-condition colt revolver, a parts gun that would be worth some $$$ to the right buyer, and other than that all POS single shot .22s and such. It looked like there was one sawed off shotgun. I had a brief chat with the cop (a LT). He confirmed that the guns will be destroyed by SLED. I identified myself as a collector and expressed my dismay that historic guns would be destroyed and he actually agreed; he collects Civil War stuff so understood the historic value. I gave him a printout of information (scientific studies, peer reviewed, cited) stating that gun buybacks are useless and left. It looked like the cops weren't thrilled to be there.

I plan on writing a letter to The Item to counter the expected propaganda article. No media showed at Alice drive, but I heard from another pro-2A person that media showed at the other site. All in all not a bad way to spend two hours or so.

Activists like Armaborealis and Dreamerofdreams are performing a public service.

You can help make the turn-in in your area more effective by standing on the curb with your "Cash for Guns" sign, or at a folding table, willing to offer more than the gift card for firearms that are more valuable. It would be best if numerous private parties were available, as more good guns could then be transferred into responsible hands.

This type of activism serves many useful purposes. It stretches the turn-in budget so that more guns can be taken off the street. It helps keep fearful widows from being defrauded of most of the market value of the gun they are turning in. It prevents valuable assets from being destroyed by bureaucratic inflexibility. It is a win-win-win situation.

It also dispels the pernicious message that guns are bad and should be destroyed.


©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/08/sceye-witness-account-of-sumter-turn-in.html

 

[NavyLCDR]

It's too bad that the money and resources they waste on these gun buybacks all over the country is not used for a meaningful purpose - like solving crimes.

 

[LewSchiller]

Or teaching Firearm Safety

 

[lobo9er]

Just speculation, bit I wonder if any of those end up in a LE's gun safe or other official in charge of transporting them to destruction.

 

[Nickel Plated]

Just speculation, bit I wonder if any of those end up in a LE's gun safe or other official in charge of transporting them to destruction.

In our modern day of recording EVERYTHING. I doubt it. Atleast they certainly wouldn't be able to just sneak them out of the general pile without someone noticing. Though i have heard of a few examples where particularly rare or valuable guns were turned over to museums instead of being destroyed with the rest of the junk.

 

[Pappy2]

I was at the Mt. Zion location attempting to purchase firearms. We got there a little before 10AM and baked in the heat for about 1 1/2 hours. During that time we witnessed 2-3 cars pull in to turn in guns. We were setup on public ROW and weren't close enough to see what was turned in, however could see that they were long guns.

A few other things happened while we were there:

- A lady with the church hosting the turn-in came out and took our picture several times. We waved to her but she didn't wave back.

- A TV reporter covering the event stopped by to talk to us and asked what we were doing. We shared our philosophy and she videotaped our 'Cash for Guns' sign. She asked all of us if we would be interviewed on camera and we declined.

- The Sumter PD left the turn-in site and came to our location to talk with us. When the first officer walked up he asked us if we had a business license. We told him no. He then asked if he could see our IDs. I debated (am am still debating) complying, however it was hot, we were ready to leave and didn't feel like getting into it with the cops. He ran our IDs, determined that we weren't local, and began asking why we had come that far for the event, and also how we knew about the event. After determining that we weren't a threat they cops relaxed, however the experience left a bad taste in my mouth to be honest. One of the cops did however suggest that we bring a bigger sign next time to get more takers. They also advised we weren't in the best neighborhood to have a sign that said 'Cash' and 'Guns' on it.

- We had 1 car stop and offer to sell us a handgun, at the same exact moment as we were talking with the cops. I never saw what it was and the transaction did not occur.

 

[NavyLCDR]

Or teaching Firearm Safety

Actually, I would rather not have the government involved in teaching anything about firearms safety outside of the military. It would be guaranteed to cater to the anti-gun crowd.

 

[Dean Weingarten]

Pappy2,

Thank you for showing up and taking the time to give us your account of what happened. It sounds as if very little went on. Too bad about not knowing what the handgun was.

 

[Ryanxia]

Good job to all who went. Keep up the good work.

That is probably one of the only situations I would consider showing my ID if out and about (when not required to) just to avoid the hassle and get back to buying guns.